Here's my November news about what's going on in Italy. Lucca Comics & Games – an annual comic book and gaming convention in Lucca, Italy – is over, and gamers and publishers are already looking ahead to PLAY: The Games Festival, the next great Italian gaming fair.

Best of Show

The following games were named "Best of Show" at Lucca, with this being our country's greatest award. Emanuele Vietina of Lucca Games announced that great things are planned for the next edition of the awards in 2013, hopefully going in the direction of a real "Game of the Year" award. For 2012 the winners are:

The other nominees were Legends of Andor, by Michael Menzel (Giochi Uniti) and Pinguin Pescatore (a.k.a. Hey! That's My Fish!), by Alvydas Jakeliunas and Günter Cornett (Giochi Uniti). I think Sheepland is a good choice and another good hit for Cranio Creations as it's a real little jewel with simple rules but deeply strategic. I reviewed the game in July 2012 if you want more details about it.

The other nominees were 1969, by Andrea Crespi, Lorenzo Silva, Lorenzo Tucci Sorrentino and Aureliano Buonfino (Cranio Creations) and Village: La vita è un gioco, by Inka and Markus Brand (Uplay.it edizioni). Trajan, which was also the IGA 2012 multi-player winner, is another great choice by the committee members.

Best Card Game• Fotosafari, by Tranja Timineck (Red Glove)

With the other nominees being two titles aimed at older players – Libertalia, by Paolo Mori (Asterion Press) and LIKE: The Social Game, by Marco Almini and Michele Pierangeli (Cranio Creations) – this award for a nice kids card game was a great surprise for Red Glove.

And the list of side awards at Lucca:

Side Award for the Best Artistic Profile• Seasons, by Régis Bonnessée (Asterion Press)

Side Award for the Best Project• Le Leggende di Andor (a.k.a. Legends of Andor, by Michael Menzel (Giochi Uniti)

Side Award for the Best Mechanism• The role-playing game L'Amore al Tempo della Guerra, by Mario Bolzoni and Luca Veluttini (Coyote Press)

Gioconomicon, Italy's greatest game news site, did an excellent job reporting on everything that was happening at Lucca, and you can check out the site's Lucca 2012 photo gallery for a huge hit of pictures from the show.

Italian Games at Spiel and Lucca

Here's an overview of all the titles from Italian publishers that I was able to check out at either Spiel 2012, Lucca 2012 (held two weeks after Spiel), or both. The other main date for Italian game releases aside from Spiel is PLAY: The Games Festival, which next takes place April 6-7, 2013. I've previewed a number of these titles on Opinionated Gamers (OG) – preview #1 and preview #2 – when I've received copies or rules in advance of their general release. I've noted individual previews and reviews in the list below, as well as titles released at other times:

And now a few "two cent" remarks about the titles on this list and the Italian market in general:

• Simone Luciani had three different games released in 2012 from three different publishers: Sheepland, Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar and Urbania, with Daniele Tascini being co-author of the first two titles. He also took first and second place in the 2012 Archimede Prize for best unpublished games. Perhaps we're looking at the rise of a new star?